Yes, bring on Bharatiyata

A deep exposure to Indian culture might cure its custodians of prudishness, machismo, homophobia

IT IS REPORTED that about 700-odd academics, including 50 vice chancellors, as a show of their upright commitment to education and the nation, recently attended a workshop at Delhi University organised by RSS affiliates. The purpose of the workshop apparently was to reflect on the “absence of Indian-ness” in the Indian education system, and the creation of autonomous “Indic” thinking. Perhaps this move for the indigenisation of education should be welcomed. For, if we were interested in genuine indigenisation, the following would happen.

First, we would restore fully autonomy to higher education. The king’s arms have no place inside the gurukul. Sovereign power cannot lord over institutions of learning; political intimidation cannot define the contours of what is thought or what is spoken. What place does flag-waving have in a place of learning? This would apply to all institutions. This indigenisation would be altogether worthy.

Second, we would get rid of destructive nationalism in learning. Come to think of it, nationalism is a very un-indic ideology. For, a culture that supposedly is about the dissolving boundaries of the ego and the self, it makes no sense to replace the ego and the self with the collective narcissism of a larger self. Sure, for political and civic purposes, we need some form of solidarity. But the ahamkara of nationalism, its arrogant absorption of individuality and plurality, its limiting of our intellectual horizons to the nation, is surely a diminution of our indigenous aspirations.

Third, we would finally confront the deep-seated resentment that has haunted the “Bharatiya eco system” of education. This resentment has two sources: How did India manage to reconcile the most radical intellectualism with one of the vilest systems of social hierarchy known to mankind? Yes, these hierarchies were fluid, they were often challenged, but our capacity to oppress people under the tyranny of compulsory identities, to police the boundaries between groups, made it very difficult for intellectual radicalism and openness to make a dent on an oppressive social necessity.

The most magnificent metaphysical tolerance co-existed with social intolerance, the demands of The Soul often mutilated the claims of individuality. For a culture, poetry,